The Florida Mom & Son Adventure - DAY 1

This spring, I led the financial aid team through the creation of an office strategic plan. As part of the exercise we also created our team values.  To start, I gave each team member a list of common values to prime the pump and told them to find five words that best represented their personal values.  I did it too.  My words were:

FAITH, LEARNING, AUTHENTICITY, EMPATHY and ADVENTURE

It was a good exercise.  It also made me realize that this pandemic has had me trapped at home for far too long.  It was time - past time - for an adventure.

Isaac's spring break was coming up.  Isaac has spent his entire freshman year of college living, eating and attending classes in his residence hall room.  His university is doing a terrific job keeping the doors open and the pandemic at bay by offering a majority of classes online and allowing students to live in a single room for a double room charge.  It's a good arrangement.  But it's not the ideal, and definitely not the typical, college freshman year.  He's met people.  He gets out.  He's matured and is learning things about himself.  But still.  I sensed he would jump at the chance to join me on my quest.

Ross understood this need but did not share it.  It was too soon after our vaccination.  He chose to stay home, guard the fort, watch the dog, and limit his potential exposure to COVID.  So on Friday, April 16, I packed up the Traverse with the supplies we were taking with us to Florida (food, an aquarium for Sam, my clothes and my backpack) and left work early.

My old travel buddy and I had enjoyed multiple discussions via Zoom and text about the trip.  His instructions were, "I want to see things I haven't seen before."  With that guidance, I chose a meandering route avoiding large cities and stops approximately every 2 hours - the Hicks family rule.  To say we were excited was a gross understatement.

When I left Winfield, it was cold and rainy.  Snow was expected in the northern part of the state later in the week.  I spent the two hour drive to Tulsa and Isaac's residence hall listening to the latest Off the Cuff episode and re-listening to a couple of older ones.  I drove to Isaac's residence hall, unloaded the Traverse into his room and we drove together to the airport to pick up our 'ride.'  I had reserved a car from Enterprise about two months earlier and discovered that was a wise move.  Rental cars are currently at a shortage due to the pandemic.  

We parked the Traverse in the airport parking garage - cheap insurance in case of hail storms - and went to the terminal to pick up the rental - a white, Toyota Rav4.  We drove back to campus and loaded the car with our supplies - the car had a nice sized storage compartment and there was plenty of room to stow everything we were taking.  

We did a quick drive through McDonalds for dinner and were on the road south in about 60 minutes from my first arrival.  We rolled into the Holiday Inn Express at Okmulgee, Oklahoma around dusk and had plenty of time for a relaxing evening before going to bed.  So far, so good.  A solid week of adventure awaits!